All You Need to Know About Production

The objective of any business firm is to maximize the difference between total revenue and total cost. This requires among other conditions that the firm purchases and combines factors inputs in such a way that the total cost of producing any particular level of output is the lowest possible figure, given existing technological and institutional conditions. The word production means manufacturing.

Production in the wide sense includes other activities that do not imply manufacturing of physical commodities. This is because the manufacturing of such commodities will be useless until they get to the consumers who need them for their satisfaction. This includes the process of getting goods manufactured to the final consumer such activities includes transportation, distribution and marketing. In addition , services which does not involve the “creating” of physical goods but which goes into adding to the satisfaction or utility of human beings are included in production and all these lead to the satisfaction of consumers and therefore, they are all part of production. A production process is the set of all activities that are required to convert a set of inputs (human resources, raw materials) into desired output such as finished products and services. Production therefore is the conversion or transformation of input into desire output.

WHY YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE KEY ASPECT OF FACTORY PRODUCTION

There are major key aspects or let me say types of production namely: job production, batch production and flow production. It is possible that these keys speech of production are utilized in a factory at different stages of the production of a product. JOB PRODUCTION: is the manufacture of a single complete unit of a product by an operative or a group of operatives and a number of such products can be worked upon simultaneously by different groups of workers. Each group of workers will complete work on the unit before taking up another.

BATCH PRODUCTION: batch production requires that the work on any product is divided into parts or operations. And that each operation is completed through the individual units making up the batch before the next operation is under taken.

FLOW PRODUCTION: is the processing of the materials continuously and progressive. Thus, their is no idle time as in batch processing since work is complete on a unit at a stage of production, it is moved on to the next stage without waiting for the other Items in the batch. It is necessary each operation or manufacturing stage is of equal length, and there is no moment off the production line; inspection is located within the flow production line and the inspection function does not occupy more than the unit operation time, all stages are balance, the correct material, plant and equipment is provided on time and maintenance is by anticipation not default.

SEE THE TYPES OF GOODS IN PRODUCTION

The goods in production can be classified in various ways, such classification includes: capital goods, consumer goods, durable goods and non-durable goods.

CAPITAL GOODS: these are goods needed for the production of some other goods such as machines, equipments.

CONSUMER GOODS: are those goods that are needed for the satisfaction of immediate wants, such as food stuffs.

DURABLE GOODS: these are goods that can last for a long period of time and can therefore be used as many time as possible such as furniture, electronics.

NON – DURABLE GOODS: these are goods which have shot life spam and can therefore be used probably only once or a few number of time such as raw materials generally.

KNOW THE PRODUCTION FUNCTION

Supposing the maximum amount of any production that a firm can produce with any given collection of factor input is determined by prevailing institutional circumstances and by the existing state of technical knowledge. The relationship between the inputs and the outputs is expressed symbolically by a production function of the general form Q=F(V1 V2 Vn) where the variables V1 V2. Vn represent quantities of various factor input and the variable Q represent the maximum output that the firm can produce with a giving set of the input variables. It is assumed that the effect of an increase in any of the input variable is at least up to some limit to increase output. It is also assumed that the proportions in which various factor inputs can be combined to produce a given quantity of output are normally variable. Cases of fixed proportions (at least among ingredients) are found in certain chemical processes; but otherwise, experience indicates that input proportions can be varied significantly with output at a constant level.

FIND OUT ABOUT PRODUCTION LIFE CYCLE

The essence of successful new product introduction of simplification may lie in the appropriate timing of the action. The characteristics of a generalizing product life cycle. The product life cycle is an important tool for analysis and planning of the market activity, it shows the trends in sales and profitability of a particular product over its life cycle. This life spam further has clearly separate stages just like the life of an individual human being.

SEE MORE ABOUT STAGES IN THE PRODUCTION LIFE CYCLE

There are four major stages in the production life cycle these are: introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage.

INTRODUCTION STAGE: this stage will be dominated by the need to establish the product in the market by building buyers and distributors’ awareness of the product and its benefit, consumer advertising and trade promotions will be important in this initial communication process.

GROWTH STAGE: once successfully established, the new product may begin to enjoy rapid sales growth which along with the lack of competition may make this the most profitable stage of the life cycle of the product. The growth stage should be managed so that a full demand base is built in market; there is selective building of customer demand at the expense of existing or substitute product types marketed by competitors.

MATURITY STAGE: it is essential to company profitability and cash flow that , the stage be prolonged for as long as possible for well established products and brands this should be a time for consolation in the market place is mainly concerned with market share, so critical marketing activities need to be managed. To maintain product distribution and customer access to the product, to maintain customer loyalty to the brand or product and hence the race of re- purchase.

DECLINE STAGE: ether for reasons of technical obsolescence, changes in customer or Trade attitudes towards the product over familiarity with it or the emergence of a better product elsewhere in the market; a stage may be reached when sales and profitability start a consistence and perhaps irreversible decline. Once management has recognized and accepted the inevitable, he should withdraw all expenditure on the product above its variables cost of production, and perhaps raising its price.

SEE THE PRODUCTION FACTOR:

Production factors are the agents, inputs or resources used in the process of production. Without such factors, productions may not be possible. However, it is not production factors themselves that are of much importance but the services that such factors could render in production. These production factors includes: land, capital, entrepreneur and labour.

LAND: is the earth and all the natural resources found in and on it. Such resources includes: forest, rivers, minerals and even it includes such thing as sunlight. Land is the final source of all materials because any commodity can be ultimately traced back to the land. The reward of land is rent. The term land is used in the widest sense to include all kinds of natural (as distinct from man-made) resources.

CAPITAL: could be as all forms of wealth that are set aside for the production of further wealth. Thus, capital represents the collection of wealth that are not needed for immediate consumption. Capital is also described as a derived factor because capital has to be produced before being used to produce commodities.

ENTREPRENEUR: is a person who initiates, organizes, control and directs the process of production and bears the resulting risk in the production process. An entrepreneur is the business organizer and the one who combines other factors of production for maximum output. The shapes of the curves in this figure are based on a normal distribution. The actual shape of the curve and the length of duration of the four constituent stages will of course, varies for each production or brand.